Online retail is the most steadily growing industry. It has significantly changed the way people search and buy things. Besides, when almost everyone has a mobile phone, m-commerce makes the online shopping experience even more convenient.

To sum up, m-commerce revenue continues to grow. The reason is simple. Online shopping is one of the most popular online activities for millions of people across the globe. And, there is no sign that the growth of mobile shopping apps will slow down.

But how can you benefit from this trend?

The answer is, "by investing in shopping app development." And, if you do not want to reinvent the wheel, you can use the business model of other popular shopping apps like Wish.

Want to find out how to make a selling app? Continue reading.

What is the Wish app?

You probably wouldn't be surprised to find out that Wish is one of the most hyped shopping apps worldwide.

Available for both iOS and Android, Wish has six additional apps, divided as to their particular topic from hi-tech electronic devices to home accessories. Such an approach simplifies the user journey and personalizes the shopping experience.

If you want to create a shopping app for selling clothes, you might also look at Poshmark, an app similar to Wish.

Poshmark is also a two-sided mobile marketplace where users can create a small personal store and resale clothes or hand-crafted items.

Image source: Sleepinginonsundays

After its launch in 2011, the application for the online store now has over five million sellers.

The platform charges a flat rate of $2.95 for items sold under $15 and a 20 percent cut for sales over $15.

But there is more:

The main focus of Wish marketplace is on mobile users

The app offers users various items from different categories

Wish has separate apps for different product categories.

Wish is mainly focused on impulsive shoppers

All products have ridiculously low prices

So, the mechanism is simple. When buyers purchase something at a low price they can't stop buying another cheap item, and so on. While buyers think that low prices help them to save, Wish stimulates them to buy more things.

The bottom-line?

To make your mobile shopping app successful, you should provide users with discounts and special offers. In this way, you will increase not only brand loyalty but also the average total cost.

To better understand the intricacies of e-commerce marketplace app development like Wish, let's consider its essential options.

Main features to make a shopping app like Wish

Now, let's dig deeper into the essential elements of a mobile shopping app.

Account

First, when you open an app, you need to create an account. You can easily do this by connecting your Facebook profile. Now the application knows some essential characteristics about you such as age, date of birth, and gender. Without registration, you can't see any deals or conduct purchases. Now, all offers are relevant to your demographic portrait.

The authorization feature is usually implemented by direct interaction with client-server API. For logging in to an existing social media account, you can also use open authorization protocols.

Shopping/Surfing

The next step of the Wish app experience is to choose the categories you are interested in. This information, together with your data, provides the application with the info for more personalization.

Shopping cart

Wish users have two options: to add a product to their wishlist or to put it in their shopping cart. All selected items are stored in the shopping cart until the user decides to complete the purchase.

Payment gateway

The payment gateway is an essential feature of the proposed online shopping app. You need to provide secure payment options to both your customers and merchants. Also, it is crucial to take into account such cases as order cancellation, cashback options, etc.

The most common ways to submit payments is via PayPal, payment card, direct bank transfer, or cash on delivery.

Image source: Wish

Recently we did a payment system research for our marketplace development project. For this project, we decided to integrate MangoPay, Stripe, and PayPal to provide app users with several payment options at once. See the full case study on the link.

Push Notifications

After the user logs onto Wish, the app asks you to allow sending push notifications. This feature is essential for shopping app development. You create another communication channel with your customers.

Now you can send all discount notifications and trigger notes right to the screens of users, and there are few chances they can miss them.

Social media integration

There is an exciting feature of this step that helps to sell more. Wish actively pushes the social media channel. And they have several reasons for this. First of all, it makes relations between buyer and seller more clear and transparent. Also, according to Forbes, 40% of consumers are purchasing goods after liking them on Facebook. People are feeling more comfortable buying things when they know a friend or colleague made a similar purchase successfully.

Other cool features for an app like Wish

To make the shopping experience of your users even more fascinating, consider the following features:

Virtual fitting rooms. With augmented reality technology there's a brand new and exciting shopping experience. Just imagine: your users can try on a pair of new glasses before purchasing them with the help of the front camera in their smartphones.

Reviews from real people. Photos of goods from real life also help to make that hard decision "to buy or not to buy." I should note that Wish uses this feature, so, don't fall behind!

Style boards. Girls are going to love this feature. It can look like a more sophisticated wishlist where your customers can create their look by combining existing items with desired ones.

The next question after "How to build a shopping app like a Wish?" should be the "What is something unique I can suggest to my customers?" By answering this question you can also figure out the cost to make an app similar to Wish.

To develop a Wish app clone, APP Solutions has researched the app in detail, and have our own set of personalization instruments. These retail-oriented tools can help analyze customer preferences and offer the goods that are the most attractive.

How much does it cost to create a mobile app like Wish

How much is it to build a store app like Wish?

Well, we do not have a single answer to that question. It is hard to estimate the development cost without knowing

The number of mobile platforms

The number of features required

The hourly rate of your mobile developer and his location

Why? Because the hourly developer rate varies depending on the county.

Example:

U.S.-based mobile developers charge $50-$250/hour

Western-Europe: $80-$200/hour

Eastern-Europe developers charge $30-$150/hour

To create an app like Wish, consider the following features:

Feature/Screen

Functions required

Design/hours

BackEnd/h.

Android/iOS/h.

Buyer application part

login signup, pass recovery

- Login, Social login

- Restore password

4

16

12

User Profile/Settings

- Edit user profile, photo

- Manage shipping addresses

12

24

16

Orders

- List of orders with statuses

16

24

16

Category

- Category structure tree

8

8

8

List of items

- List items to buy

- Filters items

- Sort items

12

24

32

Item page

- Item description

- Size, color variety

8

24

24

Review

- List of customers review for an item

- Add own item review

4

8

12

Search

- Search items

- Search result list

- Search items, brands, stores

4

24

8

Report inappropriate item

- Send report form

4

8

8

User wishlist

- Manage wishlist

8

16

8

Message

- List of messages

-Messaging system

8

40

16

Shopping cart

- Shopping cart functionality

8

24

24

Payment

- 3rd party payment system integration

- List of payment methods

2

40

8

Text pages

- Terms & conditions

8

8

8

Email integration

- mail server integration

- Email notification about users action

8

40

12

Total

114 hours

328 hours

200 hours

Seller application part

login signup, pass recovery

- Login, Social login

- Restore password

4

8

8

Registration form

- Fill in the registration form

- Upload documents

2

8

16

Seller Profile/Settings

- Edit seller profile, photo

8

12

16

Orders

- List of orders

- Update statuses

16

24

24

Category

- Request for adding a category

2

8

8

List of items

- Manage own items to sell

16

32

40

Message

- List of messages

- Messaging system

2

16

16

Transaction

- List of transactions

8

24

16

Total

58 hours

132 hours

144 hours

Takeaway

While the e-commerce industry continues to grow, m-commerce will remain the prospective sphere for investments.

To receive benefit from these trends you can develop your mobile shopping app like Wish and apply the Wish business model.

For your mobile shopping app, consider the features we have described in this article as well as the monetization strategies.